There are a blue million conversions out there that are being lumped in and raced with mini-Z's. They are for the most part brushless rigs with lipo's on carbon fiber chassis of various designs from relatively inexpensive to Awsomeatix expensive. Some of them are downright junk and some like the over the top offering from X-Power are really slick. However, that does not make them mini-Z's and to my way of thinking is opening Pandora's box. Would it be nice to move the Z into a lipo basedsis? Sure, but so far it hasn't happened but it certainly will. There are some high priced chargers out there that will do wonderful things for the gadget generation like Bluetooth hook up's so that you can see how your batteries are charging while looking at your phone instead of the charger itself. They do provide graphs for matching batteries into sets and weeding out the weaker ones but unless you are one of the top ten in the World it's all just bling.

Check out the one I gave you the number for. It is more than enough to get the job done.

Iíve noticed this in my short time with MiniZ. Back in 2010-11, when first tired them. MiniZ was king for the small scale. I was very suprised when I bought mine over winter and joined a Facebook group for MiniZ. How few were actually running true MiniZ. Most are using theses higher end XPower or similar. I kinda of interested. But have real hard time getting myself to spend $500 plus on something so small.
Iíve seen brushless. Way to much for me.

The biggest problem currently with the VE chassis is a small enough motor. The 3500KV or the Kyosho ECO tune motor are the best available but as monopole motors there is little throttle control or braking of any kind. There has also been little or no control of braking through the ESC as everything has been sensorless. Now there are a couple of sensored combinations available but the capabilities of the ESC is short of the motor output which to me questions actual value. On a medium sized RCP layout a well tuned and set up brushed chassis with a well worn 70T will eat their lunch. Brushless/lipo is the natural progression but currently the cart is ahead of the horse. Until Kyosho comes up with a viable chassis to accept a high output single cell lipo that can handle two in parallel you are pretty much just burning disposable income on more bench clutter. In the meantime just segregate the true mini-Z's from the hybrid monstrosities and all will be right with the world.

With all the current turmoil in the scale I wouldn't go crazy on a charger that just does NIMH batteries. Ebay item number 321500159944 is a great bang for the buck. So much so I would get at least two. Your choice of battery will serve you well if you don't try to melt it down while charging it. Personally I would look for some 8-900MAH batteries to accompany the punchier 750's. The higher MAH units provide more run time while giving up some of the snap or punch that the lower MAH units have which can be a good thing. You use your punchy batteries for the qualifiers and the more sedate units for the mains. If you try a sets back to back you will see what I mean.

picked up used mini z buggy with peak 900 batteries and the x speed motor for 130b I also picked up the charger you pointed me too

Familiarize yourself with the charger. Install they batteries and charge 1000MAH(1A) until they show full. Monitor battery heat during charging. If batteries reach 128* during the charge the charger will shut down the process on that cell so it will give a false peak. When charge is complete cycle through the different readings until you get a charged MAH reading. If the batteries are in full racing shape the readings should be from 850MAH to low to mid 900MAH. Readings over 1000MAH indicate that the batteries are past their prime but will deliver long runtime with not much punch. If the readings are all over the place put the batteries back in the charger and select discharge/refresh and let them go until all read full. This could take a couple days but will balance the cells back to the best that they can be which may or may not be racing quality. Once refreshed again, put them back on the charger and select discharge then scroll through to select 500MAH and let the process begin. They will discharge to .9V and then automatically switch to a 1A charge until full. Again, read the MAH charged number and see how it compares to the initial hit. if the batteries are good the numbers will be better as well as closer together. If you have multiple sets of batteries then do the same process for all sets. Look at all the completed MAH numbers for all the batteries. Group them together from highest MAH to lowest. The ones in the middle will be the best batteries for actual racing. The lowest will have decent punch but lack runtime while the highest will be the opposite. If you install batteries in position 1 and 4 you can charge at a higher rate for the two batteries. This will give you more punch but dramatically shortens battery life. I recommend that you find a 6 inch 120V case fan to circulate air across the batteries while charging. You will probably want another charger or 3. I have 10.

Anyone else notice that the MM2 and GP versions of the VE PRO are no longer on Kyosho America's website? The only one up there is the 02 model. Hopefully this means that they have some new ones coming.

Whatís a good after market motor for speed that you donít have to upgrade fets

If you are new to the scale you will find that the stock motor with a 6T pinion on a standard RCP layout will be much faster than you are ready for. I always recommend that you get the chassis set up to your comfort level and then run the snot out of it. Once you can no longer wring another split second out of it add 1 tooth to the pinion and start over, Complete this process until you have gotten through the 9T. Then and only then will you be truly ready for more motor. A PN 70T will feel like a monster when you install it but you will soon gain confidence. At no time would I consider anything lower than a 50T. It just stops being fun when you are constantly out of control. The little car in basic stock form has the ability to re-kit itself at the end of the straight. People coming from larger scales to these little cars think they are basically toys but quickly learn differently. Once you master a "Z" you will be able to drive anything with at the very least, average skills or better. There are a large number of drivers that race "Z"'s all winter to stay sharp for the 1/8 on road season.

If you are new to the scale you will find that the stock motor with a 6T pinion on a standard RCP layout will be much faster than you are ready for. I always recommend that you get the chassis set up to your comfort level and then run the snot out of it. Once you can no longer wring another split second out of it add 1 tooth to the pinion and start over, Complete this process until you have gotten through the 9T. Then and only then will you be truly ready for more motor. A PN 70T will feel like a monster when you install it but you will soon gain confidence. At no time would I consider anything lower than a 50T. It just stops being fun when you are constantly out of control. The little car in basic stock form has the ability to re-kit itself at the end of the straight. People coming from larger scales to these little cars think they are basically toys but quickly learn differently. Once you master a "Z" you will be able to drive anything with at the very least, average skills or better. There are a large number of drivers that race "Z"'s all winter to stay sharp for the 1/8 on road season.

The buggy I got game with the X speed motor doesnít seem very fast. I wonít be racing on a rcp track. But I also get your suggestions. I just plan to build a track in my basement to run with friends in the winter as we live in the middle of no where and the closest indoor track is an hour and a half away. And one that races mini z I donít even know of

Hello All,
I have been playing with RC stuff for decades but was recently paralyzed in a skiing accident so it has been difficult to run my 1:10 scale at the tennis courts I use to run at. I have known about the Mini-Z's for a long time but never gave them much thought until now. I have been looking at the MR-03 RWD with the KT-531 Tx and wondering if that is a good way to go. I have read that the MR-03S with the KT-19 Tx has some issues and I am wondering if some of those issues were rectified with the KT-531? Another thing I was wondering about is if I am crazy to think a RWD car will work alright on hardwood floors? The floors are kept clean with weekly washing but I still wonder how that will work out. Our driveway is paved but it is older tarmac so not the smoothest but there are no cracks or anything like that. While I am not driving yet I should be in the next couple weeks and I am about 30 minutes away from Bruckner Hobbies who I know has a series for Mini-Z's but I have no idea if they are wheelchair accessible.

The later 03RWD is a decent way to go if you don't want to travel down the rabbit hole of brushless. No mini Z works well on hardwood floors. The tires that are soft enough to get a grip will pick up things not even visible to the naked eye. In minutes the car will look like it has cat paws. Equally poor performance on even the smoothest asphalt. it is a ground clearance issue more than anything else but a grain of sand in the gears can be catastrophic. Although not a big fan of off road in general you might have some success with one of the little Z buggies. Lots of aftermarket bits that can add to durability.

As far as Bruckner is concerned, you might want to visit and observe the people and proceedings a time or two before committing to their program.

Thanks Guys,
One of the attractions of the Mini-Z's for me are the scale bodies. I am a full on motor head and motor sport aficionado and I just love the variety of bodies that are available. I did some more reading last night and found a number of posts where people are running them on hardwood floors and if they are clean they work but not as well as on carpet or dedicated track. Since my accident we hired a cleaning lady who washes the floors once a week so maybe I will be OK?